Olmsted has 32 years of experience rising through the ranks of the Sheriff's Department. Prior to retiring, Olmsted was charged with the responsibility of investigating alarming reports of misconduct and corruption in the jail system administered by the Sheriff. His outspoken criticism likely earned him the kind of respect from the media that will bolster his campaign.

Sheriff Baca's former number two man, Paul Tanaka, is the most recent to challenge his boss.

Tanaka was Undersheriff until his resignation in March this year, and the announcement of his campaign to unseat his boss came as no surprise. Tanaka will likely hurl the biggest rocks against Baca, but as many have noted, Baca has plenty of ammunition to return fire. The unsightly melee between the two could benefit Olmstead more than it helps Tanka or Baca. Tanaka's campaign website is www.PaulTanaka.com and, like Olmstead, his FaceBook page carries current campaign news.

Next of the challengers is retired Sheriff's Lieutenant Patrick Gomez.

Gomez retired from the Sheriff's Dept. in 2012 with 31 years of experience. Gomez is no stranger to running for Sheriff; he has two failed campaigns under his belt. Gomez's website is www.PatrickGomezForSheriff.com, and he too has a FaceBook page.

Lou Vince is the last of the challengers.

Vince is a Detective with LAPD with 17 years of experience in law enforcement. Vince was a Reserve Sheriff for four years before joining LAPD. Vince's website is www.LouVince.com and here's a link to his FaceBook page.

As we close this brief review of the challengers, we have not seen a campaign website for Sheriff Baca, although one is likely in the making. The Primary Election is on June 3, 2014 and if Baca fails to win 50% plus one vote, he will face one of the four challengers in the November 4, 2014 General Election.

12 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Jim McDonnell was the only person who could and would have beaten Baca. None of these people have any name recognition and in a county-wide election, they need name recognition. I expect Baca will win in the primary.

Can't agree with you on this one 6:12. Tanaka's decision to enter the race is a game changer. Not because he's qualified or even has a chance to win, but because he so ruthless and lacking in integrity. Tanaka should be in jail right now, but has escaped justice only because Baca's caught up in the same scandals he is. The thing about Tanaka is that he has no scruples when it comes to using dirt on people, and he has alot on Baca. Baca has alot on him. Baca might hold back, given the circumstances. But Tanaka can't resist jumping into the slime. Once he does, Baca can't resist retaliating. It will be a sh#tstorm! This is going to be great race!

Don't be surprised if a 5th challenger pops up. Yep, your old buddy Carmen 'Nuch' Trutanich is going to run. He's been friends with Baca for years, but that won't stop Nuch from shiving Baca between the shoulder blades. Nuch is not transitioning well to chasing ambulances again. He misses having the big SUV and security detail so he can run around town like a big shot. Nuch has the me recognition and can raise the kind of money it takes to win a countywide race - even if he does as badly in the primary as he did in the DA race, he'll still be in second place to Baca, and in a run off Nuch wins hands down. You read it here first folks. 3rd times the charm for San Pedro's hero and our next sheriff.

I agree with @7:43am, this was a sleepy slow news story until Tanaka jumped in. They will tear each other to shreds once the campaign heats up in January. Then it will be Olmstead who emerges as the only qualified candidate. He already has my vote.

Indeed 11:38am is correct. The Green Meadows Park assassination attempt was the centerpiece of Nuch's electoral success in 2009. It was back in the wild crazy 1980's that a fearless young deputy DA called Nuch found himself surrounded and shot at by gangmembers while he was interviewing A witness to murder in South Central. Unfazed by bullets whistling past him, he fought off the gangmembers for just long enough for his trusty sidekick, Jim Bell to come to his rescue. Amazingly, this heroic tale never made the front page of the Times, nor did Bell or Nuch report the shooting, to anyone. In spite of there being not a shred of credible evidence to support Nuch's tall tale, it remains his finest moment and will endear him to voters who are looking for a TRU Sheriff.

Unfortunately, as you can see from the comments here, nobody cares too much about the Sheriff's race. That means another 4 years of Baca. Trutanich won't run, he's finished in politics and his credibility as a lawyer has suffered enormously as a result of the insane lies he tried to sell.

5:25pm, you are wrong. If there's anything the federal investigation has proven, it's that Paul Tanaka is a lying sociopath (to which all of LA says "DUH"). Tanaka really does think he can deny involvement in all of Baca's scandals. He wont be able to resist the urge to bring up Baca's dirty laundry (which is really Tanaka's dirty laundry too). This will start a bloodbath, because Tanaka is only the created "monster" of Baca's urge to be Dr. Frankenstein.

For those of you who think Baca will win in the primary, put down your crack pipe. He is currently polling less than 40%, and will at best make it to a runoff in November of next year. His fate will be just like Block, except that he will live to see his defeat. Voters in primaries tend to be higher information voters, and there is nothing positive about Baca or Tanaka for that matter, just bad news after bad news. Eventually it filters down to the voter, and now with social media assisting in the process, no incumbent is safe. Just ask Trutanich, who outspent his opponents four to one and didn't even make the runoff. And yes, he was the only one with name recognition on the ballot.